What might Community Engaged Learning look like in 2045?
By Emma McKenna, Queen’s University Belfast, Angela Purdham and Sarah Rafferty, University of York and Andy Coppins, Nottingham Trent University
That was the question we explored at a discussion table during the recent National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) Engage Summit in Birmingham.
As part of the conversation about co-creating a shared "North Star" for higher education, we invited participants to imagine the future of Community Engaged Learning (CEL).
What followed was a thoughtful and energising discussion.
One of the strongest themes was a challenge to traditional assumptions about the role of students. Rather than viewing students as consumers of education, participants spoke about CEL giving students the opportunity to act as collaborators, contributors and partners in tackling real-world challenges alongside communities. These opportunities often take students outside their initial comfort zone, which can require extra support and scaffolding, but the student feedback is overwhelmingly positive in the long term.
At the same time, there was recognition that today's students are navigating increasingly complex lives. Many are balancing study with employment, caring responsibilities and other commitments. This prompted an important question: how can we design mutually beneficial Community Engaged Learning in ways that are genuinely inclusive, creating opportunities for participation that do not depend on students already having the time, confidence or social capital to engage?
Participants also reflected on the conditions needed for meaningful partnership working. Community engagement can’t just rely on the goodwill and commitment of individual academics, professional staff or community partners. If engaged learning is to flourish, universities need to invest in the relationships, infrastructure and recognition systems that make partnership work possible, giving careful consideration to where students can really add value for community partners, and how such opportunities bridge theory and practice
Perhaps the most interesting question concerned impact. We have become increasingly sophisticated at measuring student outcomes, but are we paying enough attention to community outcomes? How do we recognise partnership quality, reciprocity, trust and community benefit alongside more traditional educational measures? This is being addressed in part through Kate Harper and Sarah Rafferty’s Engage Fellowship but there’s still a lot to explore and understand.
What struck us most was the sense of optimism in the room. Participants imagined a future in which universities work more closely with communities to co-create knowledge, address societal challenges and prepare students for engaged professional and civic lives.
We also drew a series of recommendations to strengthen the sectors approach in this area, from our discussions:
- Embed Community Engaged Learning within curricula, teaching quality frameworks and institutional structures
Participants highlighted the need for CEL to move beyond isolated projects or enthusiastic individuals and become recognised as a core part of higher education practice. This includes stronger integration into curriculum design, teaching quality and quality assurance processes, and wider institutional strategies and reward structures. - Provide dedicated support and capacity-building for community partnerships
Meaningful engagement requires sustained relationship-building and coordination. Universities should invest in dedicated staff roles, administrative support and funding mechanisms that recognise the time, expertise and contribution of community organisations involved in CEL activities. - Design CEL approaches that respond to changing student demographics and support inclusion
Participants emphasised that many students are increasingly time-poor, working alongside study or lacking confidence and social capital. Flexible, scaffolded and well-supported engagement opportunities can help ensure CEL is accessible and inclusive rather than benefiting only already-advantaged students. - Develop assessment and evaluation approaches that capture both student and community outcomes
Traditional assessment models may not fully reflect the relational, civic and developmental dimensions of CEL. Participants identified a need for more holistic approaches to evaluating impact, including community benefit, partnership quality, confidence-building and applied learning outcomes
Of course, these conversations are far from finished. And we’d love to know if these recommendations resonate with the wider sector.
We continued the discussion at the conference, Building a Community of Practice (CoP) for Service-Learning and Community Engaged Learning, which took place in Manchester on 23 June.
A huge thank you to everyone who contributed their ideas and experiences, and to NCCPE for creating the space for these discussions.
